Akhand Bharat (), also known as Akhand Hindustan, is a term for the concept of a unified

Greater India Greater India, also known as the Indian cultural sphere, or the Indic world, is an area composed of several countries and regions in South Asia, East Asia and Southeast Asia that were historically influenced by Indian culture, which itself ...

. It asserts that modern-day

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

are one nation.

History

During the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi Kanhaiyalal Maneklal Munshi (; 30 December 1887 – 8 February 1971), popularly known by his pen name Ghanshyam Vyas, was an Indian independence movement activist, politician, writer from Gujarat state. A lawyer by profession, he later turned t ...

advocated for ''Akhand Hindustan'', a proposition that

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

agreed with, believing that as Britain wanted to retain their empire by pursuing a policy of

divide and rule The term divide and conquer in politics refers to an entity gaining and maintaining political power by using divisive measures. This includes the exploitation of existing divisions within a political group by its political opponents, and also ...

Hindu–Muslim unity Hindu–Muslim unity is a religiopolitical concept in the Indian subcontinent which stresses members of the two largest faith groups there, Hindus and Muslims, working together for the common good. The concept was championed by various persons, s ...

could not be achieved as long as the British were there. However, in relation to Myanmar (then Burma), Gandhi felt that it should be separate from India, regarding its inclusion in British India as a purely British legacy. In addition, Mazhar Ali Khan wrote that "the

Khan Khan may refer to: * Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name * Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by various ethnicities Art and entertainment * Khan (band), an English progressiv ...

brothers

ere Ere or ERE may refer to: * ''Environmental and Resource Economics'', a peer-reviewed academic journal * ERE Informatique, one of the first French video game companies * Ere language, an Austronesian language * Ebi Ere (born 1981), American-Nigeria ...

determined to fight for ''Akhand Hindustan'', and challenged the

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

to fight the issue out before the electorate of the Province." On 7–8 October 1944, in Delhi,

Radha Kumud Mukherjee Radha Kumud Mukherjee (also spelled Radhakumud Mookerji; 25 January 1884 – 9 September 1963), also known as Radha Kumud Mukhopadhyaya, was an Indian historian and a noted Indian nationalist during the period of British colonial rule. He wa ...

presided over the ''Akhand Hindustan Leaders' Conference''. The Indian activist and

Hindu Mahasabha Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha (), simply known as Hindu Mahasabha, is a Hindu nationalism, Hindu nationalist political party in India. Founded in 1915 by Madan Mohan Malviya, the Mahasabha functioned mainly as a pressure group advocating th ...

leader

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966 ), was an Indian politician, activist and writer. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationalist political ideology of Hindutva while confined at Ratnagiri in 1922. The prefix "Veer" (mea ...

at the

's 19th Annual Session in

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

in 1937 propounded the notion of an ''Akhand Bharat'' that "must remain one and indivisible" "from Kashmir to Rameswaram, from Sindh to Assam." He said that "all citizens who owe undivided loyalty and allegiance to the Indian nation and to the Indian state shall be treated with perfect equality and shall share duties and obligations equally in common, irrespective of caste, creed or religion, and the representation also shall either be on the basis of one man one vote or in proportion to the population in case of separate electorates and public services shall go by merit alone."

Contemporary usage

The call for creation of the ''Akhand Bharat'' or ''Akhand Hindustan'' has been raised by

Hindu nationalist Hindu nationalism has been collectively referred to as the expression of political thought, based on the native social and cultural traditions of the Indian subcontinent. "Hindu nationalism" is a simplistic translation of . It is better descri ...

organisations such as the

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS,, ) is an Indian right-wing politics, right-wing, Hindutva, Hindu nationalist volunteer paramilitary organisation. It is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar ( ...

Vishva Hindu Parishad Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) () is an Indian Right-wing politics, right-wing Hindu organisation based on Hindutva, Hindu nationalism. The VHP was founded in 1964 by M. S. Golwalkar and S. S. Apte in collaboration with Chinmayananda Saraswati, ...

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena (1966–2022) (; ; SS) was a right-wing Marathi regionalist Hindutva-based political party in India founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, who was later succeeded by Uddhav Thackeray. The party is split into two parties: the Uddha ...

, the

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (translation: Maharashtra Reformation Army; MNS) is a Regionalist Indian organisation based in the state of Maharashtra and operates on the ideology of Hindutva and Marathi Manus. It was founded on 9 March 2006 ...

, the

Hindu Sena The Hindu Sena (; ), is an Indian right-wing Hindu nationalist organization, founded on 10 August 2011 by Vishnu Gupta, who is also its current leader. The Sena organized a birthday party for Donald Trump, then a candidate for U.S. President, ...

Hindu Janajagruti Samiti Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) is a right-wing Hindu organisation operating globally and established on 7 October 2002 by a group of Hindus from various backgrounds. The organisation claims that it "stands as a common platform for all Hindus t ...

, the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

etc.Yale H. Ferguson and R. J. Barry Jones, ''Political space: frontiers of change and governance in a globalizing world'', page 155, SUNY Press, 2002, Sucheta Majumder, "Right Wing Mobilization in India", ''Feminist Review'', issue 49, page 17, Routledge, 1995, Ulrika Mårtensson and Jennifer Bailey, ''Fundamentalism in the Modern World'' (Volume 1), page 97, I.B.Tauris, 2011, One organization sharing this goal, the

Akhand Hindustan Morcha Akhand Hindusthan Morcha (Great India Front), a Hindutva nationalist political outfit in India. The front is led by Baikunth Lal Sharma, former Bharatiya Janata Party MP from East Delhi East Delhi is an administrative district of Delhi in ...

, bears the term in its name. Pre-1947 maps of India, showing the modern states of Pakistan and Bangladesh as part of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

illustrate the borders of a proto-''Akhand Bharat''. The creation of an ''Akhand Bharat'' is also ideologically linked with the concept of

Hindutva Hindutva (; ) is a Far-right politics, far-right political ideology encompassing the cultural justification of Hindu nationalism and the belief in establishing Hindu hegemony within India. The political ideology was formulated by Vinayak Da ...

(a far-right

ideology), as well as the ideas of ''sangathan'' (unity) and ''

shuddhi Shuddhi or Suddhi () may refer to: *Shuddhi (Hinduism), type of conversion to Hinduism or Sikhism *Purity in Buddhism Purity (Pali: ''Vissudhi'') is an important concept within much of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, although the implications ...

'' (purification). The first chapter of the

textbook for standard VII students at Akhil Bharatiya Sanskrit Gyan Pariksha included a map depicting Pakistan and Bangladesh, which along with post-partition India, were territories that were part of "Akhand Bharat" and a trade union magazine of the same organization also included Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar. While the leadership of the right-wing

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Since 2014, ...

wavers on the issue, the RSS has always been a strong proponent of the idea. RSS leader H. V. Seshadri's book ''The Tragic Story of Partition'' stresses the importance of the concept of ''Akhand Bharat.'' The RSS-affiliated magazine '' Organiser'' often publishes editorials by leaders such as the present Sarsanghachalak,

Mohan Bhagwat Mohan Madhukar Rao Bhagwat (; born 11 September 1950) is the sixth and current '' Sarsanghchalak'' (Chief) of the nationalist social organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since 2009. Early life Mohan Madhukar Bhagwat was born in a M ...

, espousing the philosophy that only ''Akhand Bharat'' and ''sampoorna samaj'' (united society) can bring "real" freedom to the people of India. The call for

Indian reunification Indian reunification refers to the potential reunification of India (the Republic of India) with Pakistan and Bangladesh, which were partitioned from British India in 1947. Background In 1947, British India was partitioned into the modern ...

has been supported by Indian Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

, and BJP National General Secretary

Ram Madhav Varanasi Ram Madhav (born 22 August 1964) is an Indian politician who served as the National General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a member of the National Executive of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and has authored a few boo ...

In December 2015, following Narendra Modi's diplomatic visit to Lahore, Pakistan, the BJP National Secretary

(in an interview with Al Jazeera's Mehdi Hassan) described that "The

RSS RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many ...

still believes that one day ndia, Pakistan and Bangladesh which have for historical reasons separated only 60 years ago, will again, through popular goodwill, come together and ''Akhand Bharat'' will be created." In March 2019, RSS leader Indresh Kumar claimed that Pakistan would reunite with India by 2025, that Indians would settle in and migrate to

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

and Lake Mansarovar in Tibet, that an Indian-allied government had been ensured in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

, and that a European Union-style ''Akhand Bharat'' would form. Former Indian Supreme Court Judge

Markandey Katju Markandey Katju is an Indian jurist. He was the former judge of Supreme Court of India. He also was chairman of the Press Council of India from 2011 to 2014. He is the son of politician Shiva Nath Katju and grandson of Kailash Nath Katju. He i ...

advocated in Pakistani newspaper ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...

'' that the only solution to the ongoing dispute between India and Pakistan is the reunification of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh under a strong, secular, modern-minded government. He expanded on the reasons for his support for a reunified India in an article for ''

Newslaundry ''Newslaundry'' is an Indian media watchdog that provides media critique, reportage and satirical commentary. It was founded in 2012 by Abhinandan Sekhri, Madhu Trehan and Prashant Sareen, all of whom earlier worked in print or television jo ...

''; Katju advocated that such a state would be administered by a secular government. Katju serves as the chairman of the Indian Reunification Association (IRA), which seeks to campaign for this cause. The former Indian Deputy Prime Minister

Lal Krishna Advani Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. He is one of the co-founders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak San ...

, in April 2004, similarly endorsed a confederation of the sovereign nations of India and Pakistan as a powerful geopolitical entity rivalling the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, United States of America, Russian Federation and People's Republic of China. Hindu nationalist political groups such as Shiv Sena, have sought the reclamation of Pakistan-administered Kashmir under the pretence of ''Akhand Bharat,'' especially after the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution (removing the semi-autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir) in August 2019. On 17 November 2020, the RSS campaigners released a calendar based on the "Akhand Bharat" theme. This calendar was prepared by the province patron of the

Jaipur Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...

. In 2023, the unveiling of a mural in India's new parliament building, said to depict a map of the

Maurya Empire The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary source ...

under

Ashoka Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...

, sparked controversy and criticism from several of India's neighbouring countries. Spokesperson for the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, criticized it as a "manifestation of a revisionist and

expansionist Expansionism refers to states obtaining greater territory through military empire-building or colonialism. In the classical age of conquest moral justification for territorial expansion at the direct expense of another established polity (who ...

mindset", while the

i junior minister for foreign affairs stated "Anger is being expressed from various quarters over the map." Several

i politicians also expressed concern. While the spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs,

Arindam Bagchi Arindam Bagchi is an Indian diplomat of Indian Foreign Service. He was appointed the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs in March 2021 and served there till 3 January 2024. On 16 October 2023, he was appointed India's Per ...

, stated it symbolized "the idea of responsible and people-oriented governance that shokaadopted and propagated", other politicians in the ruling

declared it a symbol of Akhand Bharat, with Minister of Parliamentary Affairs

Pralhad Joshi Pralhad Venkatesh Joshi (born 27 November 1962) is an Indian politician who is the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and the Minister of New and Renewable Energy since 2024. He was also the Union Minister of Parliame ...

tweeting "The resolve is clear. Akhand Bharat".

References

External links

Merge Pakistan, Bangladesh in Akhand Bharat: MVA's swipe at BJP

NCP will welcome BJP's decision to merge India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, says Maharashtra minister
{{South Asian topics Anti-Pakistan sentiment Bangladesh–India relations Foreign relations of India Hindi words and phrases Hindutva India–Pakistan relations Irredentism National unifications Indian nationalism South Asia

History

Contemporary usage

See also

References

External links